Worldone Festival

It's a very nice Festival that El Cerrito puts on, I was quite impressed!! Lots of great food, artisan vendors, performances, children's activities, and even rides!I did have quite an ugly confrontation with some out of the area folk who came and obviously drank too much, enough to want to start a fight! It feels good to know that there were plenty of Police around, and they finally hauled Ms. Ghetto away from me! Unreal, in my own city this would happen to me!Other than that brief ugly encounter, it is a plenty bountiful festival, glad I was there!

Well, another Five Star for the Fourth. In El Cerrito, that is.Here's how the day went.After rain last week, we ordered up a warm sunny day. Mother Nature obliged. As always...El Cerrito sits on the warm side of the Bay. The day dawned, we played with the dogs for a while to tire them out, donned our straw hats and were off to a day at the Festival. Walking. (We are one clean, green, city....)Arrived, mingled with our fellow townspeople. Checked out the art exhibit. Checked out the various booths....*National Rifle Association. Check.*Citizens for Peace. Check.*Republicans. Check.*Democrats. Check. *Aidell's Sausage booth. Check. *About Face, Wholly Vegan booth. Check. You get the drift...something for everyone. And everyone getting along nicely. (Sorry, Barbara...I missed your odd confrontation.)*Red, white and blue flags flittered about in people's hands.*Red, Black, and Green streamers flittered about, sometimes on tall poles, but often also in people's hands. * Yellow dyed cloths flickered from booths. Kids played games at booths. Lots of inflated jumping booths seemed popular. All of this took place, as it usually does, on a sea of green grass. Spectacular..."Twas wonderful. And shout outs to the following people:Gene and Roger, of course. Sylvia Moir, our new police chief. The entire ECFD, who manned their booth despite a devastating fatal fire two days ago...Corey Mason for pulling the Fest off once again. Betty and Charles at the Patch BoothWest Edge Opera and, of course, Mother Nature. You Guys Rock! Thank you all!See you next year, "God willin' and the creek don't rise."

worldOne festival is the most sumptuous world music festival I know of in the Bay Area. Moving into its 10th year this 2008 season, worldOne festival happens every July 4th (and now the 3rd too) AND its free! The intertwining of global musics, arts + crafts, soaring colors and good spirit create a genuinely restorative atmosphere for All-Americans of all ages.I am honored to be a volunteer and Co-Producer of this gift to the community with my husband, Corey Mason, Event Director and Founder of worldOne radio and festival. Tune in week nights year-round from 6-9 pm on 88.1 fm KeCg El Cerrito/Berkeley. worldOne is also available for private events!Come celebrate 10 years of music in the park this July 3rd and 4th. Inspired sponsors are invited to be in contact. Now is the time.You'll leave aglow. Alohaaaaaa.

The WorldOne Festival is in OUR town! A combination of curiosity & happenstance caused me to wander into the very first "WorldOneDay FunDay" (as it was called then) held so many years ago. My friends & I had a really fun time hearing bands and relaxing on the lawn. It's gotten to be a really big deal nowadays... more and more people come each year but the vibe still manages to feel decidedly 'neighborhood-ish'! It's a place to come and meet up with your friends & neighbors, stake out a piece of lawn, and do as much or as little as you please. It's free admission too, which is just fantastic. The performers and bands are so diverse. Year after year there's been just about anything & everything (okay, not metal!). Just off the top of my head, I can remember seeing Salsa, West African Highlife, Bluegrass, Belly Dance presentations, Brazilian Party music, Hawaiian, Reggae, Roots Americana, Native American, Gamelan, Japanese drumming, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and gorgeous singing groups with only their vocal precision and passion holding the crowd transfixed. (I remember hearing the Kitka one year. I'll never forget their performance!) There are so many things in addition to the music too! There's food galore ranging from classy cuisine to carnival classics, booths are set up by non-profits & interesting companies, and there's Circus Imagination that lets kids actually be in a cool pretend circus. And it's an adorable spectacle watching these kids do the skits they just learned, complete with little costumes! There's so much in the way of art, jewelry, beautiful handicrafts, kiddie rides, product samples, people parading around in exotic dress, etc. Oh, and really nice raffle prizes. I really try not to miss it. It's a blast!How did we all get so lucky? The mild-mannered city of El Cerrito seems at first glance to be somehow an unlikely location for a wonderful large-ish event like this. But our city is actually a place that's populated with people who have eclectic tastes for world music & enjoy community spirit... plus we have a fantastic natural venue... our pretty Cerrito Vista Park. With a couple of visionaries with boundless energy at the helm (namely Corey Mason & Debra Sue Kelvin) the festival gets bigger and more wonderful every single year. Tons of people come out to share their volunteer spirit to make it 'go' too, so it really is people powered! So I guess it does make sense that the WorldOne Festival is in El Cerrito. It's an incredibly fun, relaxing, vibrant, musical, joyful experience and I am so happy it's here in our town!

I have been to this festival 3 years running. Just took my chair, blanket and sat in the sun in a beautiful park listening to great music all day. You couldn't ask for a better family friendly environment for the day. So worth the price of admission! FREE! Seriously. A nice park, nice environment, nice people, decent food options, all and all a peaceful day midst music, people etc........V

This is a great way to spend the day. Local in the East Bay! Nice park environ, colorful gypsy, hippie flags, great live music and good food. Plenty of worldly fares and crafts to peruse as well. Mellow and dancable! :)

This is a nice, relaxing festival to take the kids. You can wind down by having a seat on the lawn and listen to the bands on stage, or you can take a walk across the street to the many vendors. This year they had an outdoor ice skating rink which I thought was cool for a 4th festival. Very enjoyable and family friendly.

Hats off to Corey and Debra Sue! This is a wonderful gift to our community for the past 12 years. Met a few old friends, some new friends and spent the afternoon groovin to the music....

I come here every year with my family.It's amazing!Shop, eat, games, music!The food is amazing and you can sit down to watch concerts.The place is full of life.I love it!